The drive back home was finally over as Changsun’s chauffeur parked the car by the driveway before helping the little girl get out followed by the man himself. Thanking his employee, he bid him goodnight and made his way to his house with Matilda holding onto her father’s hand while he held onto his leather briefcase, strapped onto his shoulder.

Once they were inside, she ran straight into her room leaving Changsun to watch her go with a smile on his face until she was out of sight.

From the entrance, he took off his shoes and made his way to the kitchen where he poured himself a glass of water before picking up the phone and ordering take out from one of the publicity flyers that were hanging on the fridge.

The phone call done and the empty glass in the sink, he walked towards his office and took a seat at his desk where he placed his briefcase on the surface before sitting down and starting the work he had brought home.

Back to her bedroom, Matilda had spread out all the books she had borrowed onto her desk before picking out the largest one, which was the one Hyemi had given her first.

She went to place it on her bed, preparing it for later, and went to pick up her pj’s for a bath. Holding her clothes against her chest, she ran back to her father’s office knowing that he would be there and knocked on his door to let him know about what she was going to do but as she got no answer, she softly opened her door to find her father asleep on his desk.

She let out a sigh, closed the door and was about to make her way to the bathroom when the doorbell rang. Placing her stuff on the couch, she ran to the front door and opened it to reveal the delivery man with what seemed to be her usual dinner. She made him wait as she quickly rushed back to her father’s office, searching for his wallet before going back out and paying for the food.

Once that was done, she placed everything on the kitchen table and went back to what she was supposed to do. As she was done, she went back to the kitchen and did what she normally does when she’s the only one around. Pulling a chair towards the counter, she climbed onto it, opened a cabinet and took out two plates and then two glasses before laying them down on the table and started to properly prepare the dishes.

For the rest of the evening to late at night, she had eaten her dinner and was now lying in bed, on the verge of falling asleep as she had started reading the fairytale book.

She knew her fairy tales from Cinderella to Snow White, to Beauty & the Beast, but she still couldn’t stop reading with the endless new things she was learning, making the well-known stories she grew up with completely different from what was written in the book in front of her.

Being the bookworm with the biggest and wildest imagination, she let that creativity out as she was softly reading out loud the story of Belle, letting her mind picture the lady she had met earlier today, feeling like she was fitting the description perfectly.

She was so focused, she didn’t even hear her door slightly open to reveal her father as he took a curious peek through the crack to see if his daughter was awake or had fallen asleep. Looking at her so immerse in her new book, he didn’t have the heart to interrupt her so he decided to let her be and go eat his part of the dinner.

He closed the door and walked to the kitchen. A small chuckle out of his mouth, he found his meal neatly prepared on a plate with a glass of wine ready to be drank. He would always find it amusing that his own daughter would do something like this, being at the age she is, but was also proud because he felt like she would grow up to be an independent and intelligent woman.

While he was in the kitchen, silently eating, Matilda could hear the sounds coming from there and decided to check up on her father. She took the book with her and held it tightly against her chest as she shyly walked her way to the man. “Daddy?”

Turning his head away from the plate, he saw Matilda coming closer to him. She placed the book up on the counter before he helped her sit on the stool right next to him.

“Aren’t you suppose to be sleeping sweetie?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Hmm, I see~” He took another bite out of his dish before glancing back at the young girl as she opened the fairytale book to where she had left off. “What do you have here?”

“It’s a book where there’s all the fairy tales. The librarian let me borrow it with the other books.”

“That was very nice of her.”

“She is nice.” A chuckle out of his mouth, he playfully ruffled her hair earning him a bright smile on Matilda’s face. “I think you would love that book too Daddy.”

“Really? How so?”

“There’s some dark stuff in there and its nothing like the other stories mom used to tell me.”

“But I thought you said they were fairy tales? Aren’t they suppose to have happy endings?”

“Oh they do, it’s just… there’s a lot of twist in there.”

From there, they spent the rest of the night with Matilda excitedly talking about the fables that were written down while Changsun was happily listening to her speak, giving her his full attention.

As the next hour passed by, he noticed how tired she was getting as her energy was draining itself out of her body. He got up from his seat and lifted her up in his arms as he let her head rest on his shoulder. To her bedroom, he gently laid her down and draped her with her blanket before placing a kiss on her forehead and wishing her goodnight.

Back to the kitchen, he noticed that the book was still open and was about to close it and bring it back to Matilda’s bedroom when he caught sight of the picture that was on the page, showing him the story of Beauty and the Beast and just like she said, there was a twist in the story. He got curious as he started reading the lines; he sat back down on the stool and kept reading one story after the other, noticing that they were all connected somehow.

He tried to find the author that wrote the book but all he found in the back of it were the inscription, in the smallest of letters, were ‘wisdom & beauty’.

“Huh… Strange…”

He grazed over the words trying to figure out what it meant but gave up just a few seconds later when he noticed how late it was getting. He let the book be and walked away. Making his way to his own bedroom, he gave one last look at his sleeping daughter before making his way to his own bed, strangely still thinking about the engraved words.